At least 274 inmates have escaped from a prison in Nigeria’s Borno state following heavy flooding, the Nigerian Correctional Service said Sunday.

“The flood brought down the walls of the correctional facilities, including the medium security custodial center Maiduguri (MSCC) as well as the staff quarters in the city,” the service spokesman Abubakar Umar said in a statement.

According to Umar, at least 281 inmates managed to escape while they were being transferred to “a safe and secure facility” and seven of them were recaptured later.